Snow-removing machine



Dec. z5, 1929 a T. CARLESS SNOW REUOYING MACHINE Filed Aug. 19. 1926 2 'sheets-sheet 1 WITNESS essi Patented Dec. 25, 1928.

krnoiriis cAaLnss, or HALnnoN, NEW JERSEY;

SNOW-REMOVING- MACHINE.

Application ledAugust 19, 1926. Serial No. 130,193.

The principal object of this invention is to provide a rotary ysnowplow which may be used interchangeably for removing snow from country roads or other ways which are flanked by open spaces into which the snow may be delivered at a distance from'the machine or for removing snow from streets or other ways which are iianked by side-walks and buildin and therefore require the snow to be deposited in the gutters oi' along the margins of the side-walks, Another principal object is to provide a dirigible snow plow machine of the kind in which the actual plow is arranged ahead of a vehiclecarrying it which shall be so constructed that the plow will not be obstructed and the apparatus rackedand per"y haps damaged due to the presence of sudden rises or falls in the road or street, as transverse humps or depressions.

in the drawings,

Fig. l is a side `elevation ofthe improved machine; i

Fig. 2 isa plan;A

Fig. 3 is a transverse section on line 3 3,

l/Vliether or not the vehicle thusfforined isv self-propelled is not material: in thepresent example it is shown ahead of and coupled at l with an automobile, as atiuck 5, which drives said vehicle, whichfis then steered by the means 3. f

lVitliout as yet advertingto details' l. note that a plow, comprising the plow proper generallydenoted by G and its shank generally denoted by 7, has its shank pivoted to the chassis.

so that the plow is capable lof up and down movement with respect to the chassis, and that, being thus in part supported by the chassis, it is lalso supportedahead of the vehicle by runners 8 (here: directly underlyingvand supporting the plow proper) which are elongated longitudinally of the'vehicle and travel on the ground, the object in elongatingth'c runners being to insure their sliding or rund ning over sudden rises and"`falls `in -the road.v`

without catching and without causing undue y up and down motion of the plow. One iinportant feature of my invention consists `in forming said structure with a relativelyr long shank pivoted. back of the front wheels while the plow proper is close to the front wheels and its fron t-to-iear dimension is a relatively small part of the froiit-toi1ear dimension onf the machine, so that the machine has a very short tuiningradius. Preferably the shank is so long as to reach to and be pivoted at the Vrear of the vehicle; but in that easel` prefer to provide means on the vehicle to engage said struct vre at its forward portion and so'guide it in i s up and down movements, as will'appear. f

, VThis snow removing machine is alsointended for removing snow from more or less smooth roads; but on such roads, or wherever else the machine would have to travelin going to and I fromthem, there inightoccasionally bedeep places which if the runners 8 encountered would piit an undue strainon the runners and in fact the whole plow structure; hence, .itv will be noted that when such deep places are encountered the plow frame 7 will ride upon the main frame l, untilthe deep place is passed. e

rlhe so-called shank of the plowis a rectangular frame which overliesfthe chassis;y there may be guides 1'1 to hold the'frame against side-lash in its up rand down move`- ment around the pivotal connections between 1 it and the chassisafforded by the hinges l0,y The plow proper'is preferably of the rotary type and includes a fan or rotary ejectorvl',

`whoserea-rwardly projecting shaft i3 is journaled in the frame in suitable bearings lil, and

ngrigidly secured to the frame.` Anyiorary fansuch as is .used lin railroad. siiowplows may beemployed, so the details thereof are not material in the present case except that it is preferable that the fan be capable of rotating in either direction, where fore l utilize a lan. 4coiiiprising the radial fun-` nels rvl2? open longitudinally andl at their outer ends andeach 'equipped ateach `side of" its longitudinal opening ywith'a feathering blade 12b, ,the adjoining blades for each' two funnelsv being pivotally coupled together by;

links 120 g when the fan is rotating inA that d'irec-tion in which the hinged edge-s Ofone set Vofbladesare leading such blades .will trail and be idlewhereas the other set will then be the operating blades.V The 'fan shaft 13 is operatively connected with the shaft 16 of ai narrar orties.,

motor 17 (as an internal combustion or electric motor) through a reversing-gear comprising bevel gears 13a and 16n fixed on the two shafts and a pair of bevel gears 18 revoluble as a unit on the shaft 18a and also slidable thereon, by means of the lever 18D, so as to place one of them in and the other out of mesh with the gears 13a, 1621. Said motor is mounted on the plow frame 7, and one object in extending the frame rearwardly is thereby to reduce to the minimum the up and down motion which the motor will undergo.

The fan casing includes the shell 19 closed at the back and provided with a front fla"- ing mouth or intake 2O and having that wall which directly surrounds the fan mainly cylindri 'al but developed into a. peak 19 at he top, with an opening 19 in each side thereof; these openings are controlled by valves or doors 21 here arranged to slide in vert-ical ways 21a and conveniently connected by a flexibler connection 21b extending over a pulley 21C so that when one valve is lowered to expose its opening` the other rises and closes its opening. The fan casing may be braced by the braces 22 connecting it with the frame 7. It is not material what form or construction the runners take so that they are elongated as stated. But I here show them as simple skids. Preferably they have their forward ends upturned, as at Sa, and sharpened, as at 8b, so as both to avoid their catching on fixed obstacles and insure their cutting their way through hard snow or ice. It is necessary to x these skids to the casing in some substantial way which. will avoid straining the latter, and it is also desirable to provide for their removal. Hence the lower portion of the flaring mouth 2() of the casing has rigidly secured to its under side a casting 23 which is transversely straight and which may have an upstandingange 23a which may be rigidly secured to the rear wall of the casing; and the under side of this casting has frontto-rear extending dove-tailed grooves 23h adapted to receive dove-tailed ribs 8 on the skids, which also have stop lugs 8d to bear against the front edges of the casting 23 when the skids are tted tothese grooves.

As so far described the machine is adapted for removal of snow from country roads or other ways flanked by spaces into which the snow can be discharged at a distance from the machine; ln order to adapt the machine for use in removing snow from town or city streets where the ways of this class do not permit deposit of the snow at a distance from the machine I provide the deiiectors 24. Each of these is an inverted curved troughlike structure arranged to overlie one of the openings 19" wit-h its side edges resting on thel casing when in operative position, its delivery end discharging downwardly andso that the discharged mass will meet the ground close to the machine, as in the gutter or along the curb of the street. These deiectors are removable from the openings, so as to convert the machine to road use, areferably by hing-- ing them along one side of each to the casing, as at 2%, one. of them is shown swung back on its hinges and resting on a bracket 24D on the casing, or in idle position, in Fig. 6.

lli/Then the machine is travelling but not operating to remove snow it is desirable to elerat-e the plow to an idle position.v For this purpose I have provided the elevating means shown in if 3 and l where 25 is a trans verse manually rotatable shaft journaled in the chassis and carrying bevel gears 26 meshing with bevel gears 27 formed on or aiiixed to nuts 28 journaled in the chassis and receiving threaded stems 29 that are upwardly eny cable with projections 30 of frame 7 when the shaft and hence the nuts are turned to elevate said stems.

An important yfeature of my invention is that the actual deflecting wall of the deflector or deflecting hood, being the curved or top wall thereof in Fig. 5, slopes gradually downwardly from a` point above the corresponding opening 19". Of course the delivery from the easing takes place through that one of the two openings which is in a trajectory from the ejector according to its direction of rotation (for example, the right-hand opening in 5 if the ejector rotates clockwise), and this form of defiector accomplishes the desired placement of the snow close beside the machine without its packing and clogging the deflector. f

The transversely straight basal or shovelling portion 23 of the plow casing acts to cut through mounded and more or less hardened snow masses, levelling them olii, an operation which is facilitated by the skids which, being' sharpened, previously cut such masses into sections.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A machine of the Class described including a port-able supporting means, an ej ect-or rotatable on a fore and aft axis therein, a casing open at the front and housing the ejector and having a lateral delivery opening, and an inverted trough-like deflector exterior of the casing including a deiiecting wall sloping gradually downwardly from approximately the top of said opening, said d-eliector having its lateral edges normally resting on t-he casing. v y

2. A machine of the class described including a portable supporting means, an ejector rotatable on a fore and aft axis therein, a casing open at the front and housing the ejector' and having a lateral delivery opening, and an inverted trough-like deflector eX- terior of t-he casing4 including a deiiecting Cil wall sloping` y(,radually downwardly from approximately the top of said opening, Said deliector having its lateral edges normally resting on the casing,r and being shiitable on the casing clear of said opening.

3. A machine/of the clase described including a portable supporting means, an ejector rotatable on a fore and aft axis therein, a casing oie-n at the front and housingthe ejector1 and having a lateral delivery opening7 and a delector exterior of the casing including a delecting wall sloping` gradually downwardly from a point above said opening, said delector being` hinged on the ezjeingr` on an axis transverseto the tiret-named axis and thereby Shiltable clear of Said opening'.

A ,plowintsgv machine comprisingv a dirigible vehicle having front and rear wheelsj a Structure pivotally and freely movable up and down with respect to the vehicle and including, with a portion aheadV oi the vehicle having runner means to travel on the ground, a relatively .long shank rigidly projecting rearward from said portion and pivoted to 'the vehicle on a transverse substantially hori- Zontal axis at the rear part of the vehicle, said vehicle having forward means to guide said structure up and down, and ejector means movable in said structure ahead of the vehicle, said portion and runner means together forming a plow proper and such plow proper being close to the front wheels of the vehicle and having its front-to-rear dimension a relatively small extent of the fronteto-rear dimeneion of the machine.

5. A plowing machine comprising` a dirigible vehicle havingfront and rear wheels, a structure pivotally and freely movable up and down with respect to the vehicle and in cluding, with an upright casing ahead ofthe vehicle having` ruimer means to travel on the` ground, a relatively long shank rigidly pro jecting rearwardly from the casing and pivoted to the vehicle on atransverse substantially horizontal axis rearward. of the liront wheels, Said casing havingv a front receiving opening` and a discharge outlet7 a shaft extending longitudinally of and journaled in theehank, a rotary ejector carried by the shaft within the casing, and means on the shank to rotate the shaft, Said casing and runner means forming a plow proper and i such plow proper being` close to the front wheels of the vehicle and having its front-to rear dimension a relatively small part of the frenate-'rear dimension of the machine.

ln testimony whereof l aflix my signature.

p THOMAS CARLESS. 

